The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1887-08-06

what Is best to human nature.
"CharIty begins at home" is gener2 u,
the excuse of seltishness for lack of gen
crosby. Yet many who are not NATURAL,
selfish may be made so by taking wha
they deem a prudential admonition too
much to heart. Applied to the over lib
eral, the proverb may be, and doubtlcS.
often is, corrective. The mischief i.
that they who need its restraining inhu
ence seldom use or he ID it. In the main
1t is the oral property of the morbid ant
the covctons, and, to strengthen them
selves in their sordiness they employ the
phrase to the detriment of others whose
character is yet Uniformed, but whose
tendency IS in the wrong direction.
The charity that begins at home is
prone to stay and end there. And he who
breaches the doctrine is in constant dan
ger of carrying its practice to point OF
positive MIG sardness.
OF a kindred kind is ''Selr- REPRESENTATIONS
is the first law of Nature y AS everybody
knows, or gu hit to know, the meaning
of the axiom is literal and absolute. As
such it can not be gainsaid. But it
should be, when it is put forward as a
warning against benevo!ence, as a curb
to any disposition to help the needy
Selt-preservatou, being an instinct, reeds
no enforcement from proverbal plurality.
They that are perpetually telling US that
1t is the first law are usually the very
persons who might make US wish it were
not the law; for then they might SO for
get themselves for a moment as to drop
out of tue world to which they add moth
ing but bad example.
what is the good of having friends
unless you use them?' is often loosely
asked; but the friends are oftner obliged
to answer seriously. The proverb is in
bad taste, to say the least, and its repet-
Zion evInces a grievous want of senSb: lily,
if noting worse Friendship springs
| from sympathy, i.nm Spr ilual affinity
from mutual unde. Standing and appre-
citation, and ought 20 be reciproca! III
centivc to advancement. Improvement
to larger and better life. To put it
primarily to material use is to disgrace
aud profaue it. The nature capable of
understanding Or feeling friendship will
| be Slow to ask the rhetorical question
| unless playfully or satirically. And such
a nature never will and never can act
| upon it.
w hat was once vice is now a Gus
tom, though it may be true enough,
has done a great deal of harm by making
unthinking folk believe that some unal
loyed vice they are inclined to is destined
to become custom, and be relieved,
therefore, of all it's evil. They undertake
to substitute the present for the past, and
to forecast the future-never a safe ex-
pertinent in any hands but those OF mas
ter. because a thing is custom, it is
not the less, but the more, a vice. Re-
peaters of the apothegm usually seek
thereby to mitigate or atone for favor
lite fault of their own. They are in no.
wise successful except in calling atten-
ton to their proper shortcomings, and
emphasizing their egotism. They who
have a vice, and are CONSCIOUS of it, had
better try to get rid of it than to excuse
it by the expression of any sophistry or
catchphrase of an apologizing character.
Zone may as well have the game as
the name Is a most mischievous saw,
and is constantly heard from men who
are locking for excuses for misbehavior.
Such men not uEfrequently invent their
own detractions in order, as they say,
not to be any better than their reputa-
ton. To them the vulgar provelb does
small harm, except in SO far as it facili-
tates them in moral decline. But to per-
sons of another and higher kind, whose
instincts are good and whose characters
are weak, it is exceedingly pernicious.
SANDER is always bitter, and is likely
to arouse a reyengeiul feeling that may
expend itself in practical mlsanthropy or
general wrong doing, through a mistaken
notion of self justice. The wsest, tie
only tue way to deal with SANDER is, OF
course, to live it down. Still, this is
doubly hard when some one at your ell
bow is steadily whispering: CAS- well
have the game as the name for there is
certain sort Of savage consolation TO
most of us, i'll the secret thought that we
l.
painted. The iteration of the proverb
saps our reSolution-emascula Hates our
will. lG makes us believe that any and
every effort to struggle against misrep-
resentation is vain-is wasted exertion.
We are disguised with ourselves, and
feel maevolcnt toward the world-for at
that particular time we remember only
the fools ard sccundrels i'll it--and in
such mood the tempter, in the shape of
the proverh, finds us and its us. to his
purpose.
beware OF the surprises Of the heart
"a sentimental caution which originated,
perhaps, with Lamartine-has been mace
to discharge duty it was never intended
for. 1t is employed now to suppress all
general impulses, all emotional affection,
all spontaueity of action. IN this age |
and country, the heart IS too much in
cliEed to wait upon the dictates of the |
mind. The intense ma tier of fact latter |
half of the nineteenth century, has SO |
crammed and cLoked sensiDility, that its |
emanations are s!tilicalIy labeled: |
"Gush, and uniformly ridiculed. We |
need rather to try evoke surprises Of the |
heart, iii the period of generalization and |
to cultivate i'll that greatly !
neglected organ the capacity to be |
amazed
Guilt is always timid is one of the
phrases that must have been coined in
the mint OF ignorance. The student of |
human nature knows that guilt, and
that Of the deepest order, is often SO
audacious that il cannot be
frightened or abashed.
What is termed wickedness is very
different actually from tho thing it is
1t is sincerely conscious
of itself (the popular notion Is that it is
ever appalled, by It's own ima5e,) and
when it is conscious it secs itself at 4
pi opiturus angle. Vice is its
own vindicatoT through the very perver-
sity of Judgment that allows it to exist.
It's continuance lends il q hardness and